Armored Warfare News

Commanders!

The Storyline Campaign was an event that lasted from mid-2017 to the early months of 2018. During this epic odyssey of a rogue Clayburn Industries security service outfit, the Seahawks, the players were, for the first time, truly introduced to the gritty and dark world of Armored Warfare, the ongoing story of which you can follow in the Special Operations mode.



However, in today’s offer, we won’t be only reminiscing on the Seahawk journey; we’ll also give you the opportunity to obtain some of the special content tied to it.

Between October 10 and October 17, 2019, the following bonuses will be available:

• 200% Experience income bonus (x3) for the first victory of the day for the PvE mode
• 50% bonus to Experience to Reputation conversion
• 50% bonus to Gold to Credits conversion

You can also pick up a gift on MyLoot for the duration of this event. The gift contains the following items:

• 3 days of Premium Time
• 5 Storyline Campaign decals
• 1 Type 90 Loot Crate

And last but not least, we are offering several interesting items on MyLoot that were originally only available during the Storyline Campaign. You are already familiar with:

• Abrams AGDS Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer
• Centauro 120 Wolf Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer
• Sabre Tier 6 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle

 


These items are currently available on MyLoot in a large discounted bundle. But that’s all there’s to it. The following items are currently also on offer:

• Commander Joshua Seagrove
• Commander Kathryn Grey
• Techno camouflage
• Black base paint

Commanders Joshua Seagrove and Kathryn Grey were the main protagonists of the campaign.



Joshua Seagrove was a British corporate officer first and foremost until circumstances forced him to take action against the company that practically raised him. A calm and composed professional, he’s a Tank Destroyer commander in Armored Warfare, specializing in vehicles armed with cannons. As such, he’s a great choice for the Stryker and other similar machines. You can read more of his backstory in our dedicated article.



Kathryn Grey, on the other hand, was a U.S. officer, stranded in Europe after the collapse of the United States of America. Reckless and wild, she’s a good commander for aggressive Main Battle Tank tactics where she can dish out more damage than her vehicle suffers. You can read more of her backstory in our dedicated article.



We are also offering the Techno camouflage and, as a part of the largest bundle, a special black base paint:

Black Paint:



Techno Camouflage:



The Techno camouflage is available for all three environments and can be installed on any vehicle that supports camouflages in general. Please note that unlike with the previously available historical camouflages, the Techno camouflage appearance changes with the used base paint.

And, finally, for the players who are not interested in remembering the lore of old, we have a special offer: Type 90 Tier 7 Japanese Premium MBT!

The Type 90 is the current service main battle tank of the Japanese Self-Defense Force. On the outside, it vaguely resembled the German Leopard 2, but inside, the vehicle’s completely different. It was adequately armed and armored for the time it was developed in, but what made it really stand out were its cutting-edge Japanese electronics and its hydraulic suspension, allowing the tank to tilt itself forward or backward, enhancing its gun elevation and depression beyond what the turret would normally allow. This trait was considered to be an important for Japan, as much of its landmass is covered by mountainous areas. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the Type 90 is a Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank. Gameplay-wise, it resembles the Leopard 2 and Abrams version of the same Tier, being placed in power somewhere between the basic (stock) and elite versions of the said vehicles. The difference between the Leopard 2A5 and the Type 90 MBT lie in the presence of an automatic loading mechanism – otherwise, the firepower and protection levels is roughly the same with the Japanese tank having a little less armor, compensated by more module hitpoints. Overall, it is not the best-protected MBT on the battlefield, requiring careful long-range gameplay. However, the advanced electronics installed in this tank allow it to aim faster than all its class and Tier counterparts.

But the truly special feature of this tank that sets it apart from the others will be its hydropneumatic suspension. Using their mouse (just like regular aiming), the players will be able to tilt the vehicle forwards or backwards, significantly enhancing its gun depression or elevation and allowing it to take shots other tanks could not. Additionally, this tank has a special ability to lower itself to the ground much like the Object 279, reducing its silhouette. If this feature is engaged, the tank will lose some of its mobility and view range, but will gain additional camouflage bonus and the ability to aim faster. The hydropneumatic elevation and depression abilities are not available in this lowered setting.

You have the opportunity to obtain this unique vehicle from an Type 90 Loot Crate.

 

We hope that you will enjoy the bonuses, gifts and offers and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

On the 10th of October 2019, starting from 8:00 CEST (9th of October, 11 PM PDT), the server will not be available for 5 hours due to the application of Update 0.30.5760.





QN-506

In this Update, we are enabling the QN-506 Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer that was previously purchasable during a pre-sale. It is a Chinese Terminator-style fire support vehicle with very unique weapon systems – it features three weapons:

• 30mm autocannon
• 70mm unguided rockets
• 151mm guided missiles

Additionally, this vehicle has a special active ability – it can launch a recon missile that will fly towards the edge of the map, spotting everything along the way. You can read more about this vehicle in our dedicated article. Please note that the QN-506 will be distributed to those who purchased it in the near future, not with the launch of the Update directly.

New American Dream Special Operation

In this update, we are adding the third PvE Special Operation, in which Ryan Miller will be investigating an Enigma base in the most unlikely of places. Three new Achievements will also be available:

• Part 3 of the Patriot achievement
• Without Mercy
• All-Time Squad

 
M48 GAU-8 Adjustments

The M48 GAU-8 Tier 10 Tank Destroyer is currently overperforming in some situations. We are therefore introducing the following changes:

• Decreased the accuracy for the lower rate of fire mode
• Increased the accuracy decay for the lower rate of fire mode
• The gun now overheats faster in the lower rate of fire mode
• Reduced the damage dealt by non-penetrating hits against thick armor
• Reduced the maximum armor thickness that allows for damage dealing by this vehicle’s gun
• Reduced module damage

Top-Attack ATGM Adjustments

We’ve detected several top-down ATGM issues that led to some unintended behavior against unmanned turrets. This type of ATGMs now deals minimum damage to unmanned turrets instead of the previous full one the way the other shells do. However, there’s one exception – if the missile penetrates the entire height of the turret and reaches the hull as well, the damage dealt to the affected vehicle will not be reduced.

General Changes

• Leclerc T40 now has the option to install a Warmaster skin, which can be unlocked by completing the Mastery objectives, available in its Visual Customization window
• Fixed an issue where completing a mission on the Heroic difficulty would award zero Crew and Commander experience
• M113 Hellfire: the AGM-114A ATGM now works as described (the warhead was unintentionally working as a tandem one)
• Griffin 50mm: reworked the reloading sound when firing constantly
• American Dream, Special Operation 2: Fixed the model of the fuel truck that appears at the end of the mission
• Fixed the appearance of the French real-life camouflages
• Fixed a visual issue where a destroyer M48 GAU-8 might still appear with its firing visual effect

Commanders!

If you’re already familiar with high-Tier gameplay, you are probably aware of a very specific shell type called PELE and of its impact on the well-being of your crew and internal modules. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at what it is and how it works in Armored Warfare.



PELE stands for Penetrator with Enhanced Lateral Effect (or sometimes Lateral Efficiency) and is basically intended as a modern version of the old AP-HE, which are armor-piercing rounds with explosive filler, intended to do a lot of internal damage upon penetration. PELE, however, does not use potentially unsafe explosives – instead, the shell is basically a kinetic penetrator that consists of two layers. The outer layer is very hard in order to penetrate the target, while the internal layer is made of soft metal.

When such a shell strikes the target, initially it behaves like any kinetic penetrator would but, unlike a standard penetrator rod, the internal softer part starts compressing upon impact while the outer layer is driven forward and penetrates the armor in a normal fashion. The compressed internal part then expands, shattering the armor as well as a portion of the outer layer into many fragments and creating a significant spalling effect inside the target.

Compared to HE shells and their sub-variants, PELE has a major advantage of being inert and thus much safer to handle. This is also a disadvantage, however – unless you hit something hard like armor, you won’t receive the PELE shatter effect (there isn’t much to shatter and not enough pressure generated), which means that the shell is not practical against soft cover.



This is not only quite destructive against light armor, but also an effective solution for low-caliber autocannons. The first PELE shells started to appear in the late 1990s and several companies are currently offering mostly autocannon-caliber PELE rounds, although MBT caliber PELE shells (including 105mm, 120mm and 125mm) do exist as well. In tank calibers, the advantage of PELE is precision fire with some lateral effect – a PELE round is very effective against lighter armored targets, but also against buildings with snipers in them (a specific wall can be targeted without blowing up the whole building with a HE round). On the other hand, a tank PELE shell does not have the same penetration capability as a modern APFSDS round.

With that out of the way, let’s discuss how PELE shells work in the game.

There are two types of PELE shells you can encounter in the game:

• Autocannon-caliber PELE (most notably fired by VBL and Marder 2)
• Full-caliber PELE (fired by the Wilk XC-8 Tier 10 Tank Destroyer)

Autocannon PELE rounds work mechanically like HE rounds with increased penetration. They do not rely on full penetration alone (this happens relatively rarely) but, instead, on the damage dealt even by non-penetrating hits. As such, they do not deal a lot of internal module damage, but can be reliably fired against most lightly armored targets. These rounds are intended as universal.



Full-caliber PELE of the Wilk works differently. Mechanically, it’s now a kinetic round that, upon penetration, creates a large (60 degrees) cone within which internal damage (to modules and crew) is dealt. It does not use any normalization and ricochets at 75 degrees or more. This mechanic is new and is currently working as intended, unlike the pre-0.30 PELE that was mechanically a HESH round and was over-performing significantly.



Wilk PELE shells are now best used against thin armor and vulnerable vehicle areas. The thinner the armor is, the more damage a PELE round deals. Ammo rack, engine and crew compartments are all good targets for such a shell but firing against the frontal plate of an MBT will no longer yield the results you are looking for.

We hope that you’ll find this explanation useful and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

Soviet missile tanks are, without any doubt, one of the less known but, at the same time, most intriguing chapters of Cold War armor development. We have one such vehicle in the game already – the IT-1 Tank Destroyer. If you are interested in the historical background and rationale behind these machines, please visit the linked article to learn more.

In short, the missiles were seen as the future due to their advantages (note the parallel between the Soviet Union and the DIVAD program history) and what followed was a costly series of programs (as was common in the Soviet Union, multiple design bureaus worked on the same topic and provided competing prototypes) that ultimately ended in a limited production of the abovementioned IT-1 in Nizhny Tagil. But today, we will discuss one of the unsuccessful competitors – the Object 287.



By 1961, the IT-1 was still in development and the project was not doing all that great – partially due to a number of unreasonable demands personally submitted by the leader of the Soviet Union at that time, Nikita Khrushchev. Because we all know that meddling from above always ends great, the Uralvagonzavod project was delayed several times. It was likely one of the impulses that prompted the Kirov plant in Leningrad (under the leadership of legendary Ya. Zh. Kotin) to work on a design of their own, resulting in a prototype called Object 287. The project was launched officially by the decision of the Soviet Council of Ministers in the February of 1961.

The Object 287 was, unlike the IT-1, based on a tank called Object 432, which would enter service under the name of T-64. We covered its development in a separate article but, suffice to say, at the time of its appearance, this tank was possibly the best Medium Tank in the world and was revolutionary in more than one aspect. However, instead of its standard turret, the vehicle was to be armed with a guided missile system, developed (just like IT-1’s Drakon) by the OKB-16 design bureau under A. E. Nudelman.

The initial project was finished by the end of 1961 and it was shown to the military by the beginning of 1962. After being approved for the prototype stage, the developers started working on figuring out the details.

The way they saw it, the IT-1 had one specific problem. It carried an accurate and powerful missile and, yes, the missile was fully capable of taking out pretty much any western tank of the era, but, at the same time, the age of IFVs has just begun and even before the appearance of the Bradley, there were other, softer, targets on the battlefield that were nonetheless too well armored to be taken out by a machinegun. In other words, the IT-1 would have to waste an expensive missile to destroy western APCs or IFVs and that just wouldn’t do.

To solve this problem, the designers proposed a unique combination of multiple anti-armor weapons. The tank was to carry not only a remote-controlled ATGM launcher (at that point, the missile considered was designated 301-P), but also a pair of lighter anti-tank weapons (initially, two 23mm autocannons) that would be enough to take out any such lighter targets.



Two prototypes were built between 1962 and the spring of 1964 and were sent to participate in factory trials. These trials went reasonably well but some significant flaws were encountered – especially the 301-P missiles were not exactly reliable and the 23mm autocannon setup was not performing well enough either. As a result, the turret was significantly overhauled to include two different weapon systems:

• Two 73mm 2A25 Molniya smoothbore guns replacing the autocannons
• 9K11 Tajfun launcher replacing the older one

The first weapon system sports a familiar caliber – after all, the BMP-1 also used the same one, although the gun was different (2A28 Grom). Not much info is available on the 2A25 Molniya. As far as could be discerned, it is a somewhat shorter and automatically loaded. The muzzle velocity likely wasn’t very high and it really wasn’t much of a gun, more like a large grenade launcher. The 2A25 Molniya was developed in Tula in 1960-1961 or so as an offshoot of the TKB-04 project (which ended with the introduction of the 2A28) and even its name (“Lightning”) suggests that it was related to the Grom (“Thunder”) gun.

It fired the same ammunition as the Grom, most notably the PG-15V HEAT round, penetrating roughly 300mm of steel armor under ideal circumstances, although the shell couldn’t exactly be relied upon to do so in real life. The effective range of such a weapon was around 500-700 meters at most. The Object 287 had two of these guns, both automatically loaded and each having a drum magazine with 16 rounds.

The second weapon system, 9K11 Tajfun, was a 140mm ATGM system consisting of one launching device and 15 9M11 missiles stored in the vehicle’s hull. The loading process was heavily mechanized with the missiles actually stored with their warheads to the back of the vehicle and had to be rotated by 180 degrees horizontally during the process.



Each missile had a flight velocity of around 250 m/s and could penetrate up to 500mm of armor. In addition, the warhead had a strong fragmentation effect equal to a 100mm HE shell. The maximum range of these missiles was 4 km and the minimum range was 500 m.

Both weapon systems were installed in a limited traverse (100 degrees to each side of the vehicle axis) remote-controlled turret – the 73mm guns were positioned on each side with the launcher in the middle. Each gun could elevate and depress independently while the hydraulic launcher arm between them only deployed with a missile on it – most of the time, it was hidden inside the tank.

This whole system was controlled by a group of two men – a driver and a weapons operator/commander, sitting in front of the vehicle where only the driver would normally be. The crew compartment was isolated from the rest of the vehicle and equipped with a NBC protection system. The commander had panoramic sights at his disposal along with the 9Sh19 Safir day/passive night fully stabilized sights system, effective at night up until 1200 meters. The driver had a night vision device called Klin – interestingly enough, this device was specifically designed with the missile tank requirements in mind.

The entire vehicle weighed 36.5 tons and was powered by a 700hp 13.5 liter 5TDF 5-cylinder two-stroke supercharged engine. This allowed for a maximum speed of 66 km/h and the tank was quite agile as well.

By the May of 1965, work began on two Object 287 prototypes, upgraded to the abovementioned Tajfun/Molniya configuration, very likely by modifying the old ones. One additional hull was also built for armor trials.

A new round of testing began as soon as they were ready – these tests took place between 1965 and 1968. These tests showed that the vehicle had its advantages as well as drawbacks. When it comes to advantages, it was well-protected and the crew had a lot of tactical options thanks to its multiple weapon system, allowing it to choose the right tool for every situation. There were, however, significant downsides to the configuration.

For one, there was little in the terms of automation – the commander/weapons operator had to do most of his tasks manually while actually commanding the vehicle, making his job quite taxing. Especially the aiming process – using the remote controls – was difficult and it was discovered during the trials that, due to this difficulty, the Object 287 would not have an advantage over the NATO tanks at 2km or closer. At longer distances, there was an advantage only thanks to the range of the Tajfun missiles.


 
The 73mm Molniya guns were also deemed insufficiently accurate and the only weapons that lived up to the expectations were, ironically, the vehicle’s machineguns (one was paired with each Molniya gun). This, however, wasn’t seen as much of a success since the vehicle was meant to engage tanks, not infantry.

There were other issues as well – the night sights set wasn’t really great (there was a lot of image lagging, which meant that if the vehicle was moving at night, nobody could see anything), the Safir optics system was too difficult to operate effectively and several others.

All in all, the tank wasn’t terrible, but it just wasn’t good enough and the Soviet military wasn’t too excited about it either. It was a good start, but when the sum of all test results came in, everyone realized that it would take years (and a lot of money) to fix all the critical issues – and that just wasn’t worth it, not with the BMP-1 already two years in production and the much more mature IT-1 around the corner.

As a result, on September 3, 1968, the Council of Ministers issued the order to cancel the Object 287 project and to focus on a new type of tank missile weaponry – gun-launched missiles (resulting a few years later in the Kobra ATGM for the T-64A). One Object 287 prototype was scrapped and the other one was mothballed. It is currently available for seeing in the Kubinka museun. The competing IT-1 project didn’t fare much better – it went into very limited mass production but only stayed in service for a few years before being declared obsolete, finally ending the era of Soviet missile tanks.



In Armored Warfare, the Object 287 will be a Tier 6 Premium Tank Destroyer. But, before we talk about the specifics of this machine, please note:

The numbers below are very preliminary as the vehicle has not been properly tested. They are sure to change and should only be discussed as an indicator of how we’d like to set the vehicle up.

With that being said:

Gameplay-wise, it will generally resemble the IT-1 as it consists of a MBT chassis armed with an ATGM. Unlike the IT-1, however, the chassis (belonging to a T-64) will be more durable with its frontal armor being a MBT level composite. Even though it won’t have many hitpoints for its Tier, as Tank Destroyers go, it will be a fairly tough one to crack.



The mobility will also be pretty solid for its Tier – certainly higher than that of its MBT counterpart due to its lower weight, but more akin to MBTs than to some lighter Tank Destroyer.

But where the vehicle will truly shine will be, as its class suggests, its firepower. Where the IT-1 boasts a single weapon system (a powerful ATGM), the Object 287 will actually have two weapons:

• 140mm Tajfun ATGM (HEAT-MP warhead with mediocre 500mm penetration, solid 700 damage and excellent flight velocity, 10 second reload time)
• Two 73mm smoothbore guns, resembling those on the BMP-1

Simply put, the missile will be useful for taking out enemy MBTs at longer distances (dealing damage even if it does not penetrate, being a MP warhead) while the twin 73mm guns (firing two 300mm penetration HEAT projectiles in rapid succession once per 3 seconds) will be effective against lighter targets and MBT sides at low to medium distances due to their reduced accuracy.



However, this excellent firepower will have its limits. For one, the turret will not traverse in full circle, only 100 degrees to each side of the vehicle. This will make it quite easy to flank and outmaneuver the Object 287 and, vice versa, any Object 287 commander must mind his or her position in order not to get flanked and destroyed from behind. The downside will be the vehicle’s poor gun depression, making it, once again, not suitable for close combat. Luckily, the vehicle will be quite stealthy thanks to its low silhouette and, additionally, will have the Engine Overdrive active ability available, allowing it to retreat in haste if needed.

In summation, this vehicle will be suitable for some aggressive tactics thanks to its excellent frontal armor, rewarding high-risk gameplay of getting closer to the enemy than you normally would in a missile Tank Destroyer.



Once it takes a position, ideally one where only its upper half its revealed since its weapons are pretty much located on top of it, it will also be very difficult to dislodge without closing in. In close combat, it will also be able to hold its own to a degree thanks to the combination of two weapons systems. Skilled players will be able to use its full potential to dish out high amounts of damage but one must beware of getting circled around and destroyed from behind.

We hope that you will enjoy it and will see you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

We’d like to invite you to another round of the Bounty Hunt event, in which you will have the opportunity to hunt down some Armored Warfare members of staff or VIPs and destroy them in battle for amazing prizes!



On October 9, 2019, between 18:00 and 19:00 CEST, log in to Armored Warfare and play Tier 6 PvP.

We, the staff-members and moderators, will be joining the battles and if you manage to destroy one of us, you will be awarded with the Kampfpanzer-70 Tier 6 Premium MBT (or 3.250 Gold if you own it already).

But that’s not all. Ten randomly chosen winners will also receive the coveted QN-506 Tier 9 Tank Destroyer!

The following staff and VIP’s will take part in the event:

• MaciekM4a4
• Eisenherz
• arek3city
• Tenam
• Bat_Comrad
• Spitfire_
• Pickard
• Eskobar68
• ThePsychoCat
• hanaiel
• Primer
• Friesenstahl
• Stricky
• Bezkres82
• Noobdown
• Silentstalker
• Onemanclan

They will also identify themselves at the beginning of each battle by a chat message.

The rules of the contest are very simple:

• Team-Killing will not win you a prize, unless you count a ban and contest disqualification
• You don’t need to make a note of who you destroyed (although it doesn’t hurt); we’ll keep track
• You can win the Kampfanzer-70 as many times as you want, they are no limits per player (however, you can only win the QN-506 once)
• Rewards will be distributed after the end of the event

We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!